New insights into origins of the world's languages
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 13:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Linguists have long agreed that languages from English to Greek to Hindi, known as 'Indo-European languages', are the modern descendants of a language family that first emerged from a common ancestor spoken thousands of years ago. Now, a new study gives us more information on when and where it was most likely used. Using data from over 150 languages, linguists provide evidence that this ancestor language originated 5,500 - 6,500 years ago on the Pontic-Caspian steppe.